Protection of State Information Bill NCOP Ad Hoc Committee: Way Forward

Meeting report

Election of Chairperson
The Committee Secretary called for nominations for the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee on Protection of State Information Bill.

Ms N Ntwanambi (ANC, Western Cape) nominated Mr R Tau (ANC, Northern Cape) to be Chairperson of the Committee.

Ms M Boroto (ANC, Mpumalanga) seconded the nomination.

The Committee Secretary announced that the elected Chairperson for the Committee was Mr Tau. He asked Mr Tau to take his place as Chairperson.

Mr Tau commended the nature and character of the National Council of Provinces because of the unity displayed in the election of the Chairperson. He stated that the Committee would look at things objectively and would engage with one another on matters. The heart of the matter was to ensure that they had the confidence of the South African citizens. He wanted to believe that on the basis of processes in the House, the first meeting after recess would deal with the Committee Programme and how the Committee was going to process the matters before them. The current agreed time was said to be at the end of April 2012. This had been agreed to in the House by resolution. If the Committee felt it was necessary to process matters before the end of April, they could do so. Of course, this would not be done without the participation of the South African citizens. With the necessary support, the Committee would be able to finalise all matters. He thanked all the Members and said the Committee would convene around 17 January 2011. Members would be informed of the time, date and venue of the meeting. As Members of the Ad Hoc Committee, they were drawn from their permanent deployments in respect of their Committees. He appealed to all Members to be ready and available at all times, and hoped that they would put in the effort of working more than what was expected of them.

The meeting was adjourned.